Are we in for a major disruption?

Just read an article by Steven Sinofsky (@stevesi) (Disruption’s Long, Slow, Complex Journey). And serendipitously had just come across a number of “do you remember” posts – AOL, Blackberry, etc. Add to this, the business news of the bidding for Yahoo! and the retail trends of the first part of the year, and you start to think that there is a major change coming. But, the real question is what is it and what is it going to look like?

Here in the United States, we are seeing signs for a major disrupting event. It could be in how we shop – the big box stores are consolidating, the name brand retailers are shrinking, and how we spend our money is changing. It could be in how we travel – we are seeing an aversion to lines and there is a change in where we travel. It could be in how we educate ourselves – the classroom is changing, how we fund education is changing, and our view of what is needed is changing. We are seeing it all around us – political campaigns are not following the traditional rules, the television executives aren’t making the same types of orders, and how the “experts” to behave with more money in our pockets did not happen.

It is becoming more and more apparent that something is happening. We just don’t know what it is and the “experts” can’t tell us. So, as leaders we must be able to be flexible and now may be the time to try that something new as it might just be the “next big thing.”